PewDiePie
= PewDiePie = |- | colspan="2" |Updated 25 November 2019 |- | colspan="2" | |- !Website |represent.com/pewdiepie |- ! colspan="2" |Signature |- | colspan="2" | |} Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (/ˈʃɛlbɜːrɡ/ SHEL-burg,5 Swedish: ¹arːvɪd ɵlf ²ɕɛlːbærj (listen);c born 24 October 1989), known online as PewDiePie (/ˈpjuːdiːpaɪ/ PEW-dee-py), is a Swedish YouTuber and comedian, known for his YouTube video content, which mainly consists of Let's Play videos and comedic formatted shows. After registering his current YouTube channel in 2010, Kjellberg primarily posted Let's Play videos of horror and action video games. His channel experienced a substantial growth in popularity over the next two years, and in July 2012, it reached 1 million subscribers. As his channel grew, his style of video content became more diverse, with uploads including vlogs, comedy shorts, formatted shows and music videos. On 15 August 2013, Kjellberg became the most-subscribed user on YouTube, being briefly surpassed in late 2013 by YouTube Spotlight and several times in early 2019 by Indian record label T-Series before being fully overtaken by the company. From 29 December 2014 to 14 February 2017, Kjellberg's channel was the most-viewed YouTube channel. As of August 2019, the channel has received over 102 million subscribers and 23 billion video views, ranking as the second-most subscribed and eleventh-most viewed on the platform, as well as the most subscribed and viewed channel to be operated by a single individual. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube has caused him to become one of the most noted online personalities. Due to this popularity, his coverage of indie games has created an Oprah effect, boosting sales for titles he plays. In 2016, Time named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Contents * 1Early life and education * 2Internet career ** 2.1YouTube content format *** 2.1.1Production and output *** 2.1.2Style ** 2.2History *** 2.2.1Early years (2006–2012) *** 2.2.2Becoming the most-subscribed user (2013) *** 2.2.3Continued growth (2014–2015) *** 2.2.4YouTube Red, Revelmode, and style change (2015–2017) *** 2.2.5Media controversies, streaming, and formatted shows (2017−2018) *** 2.2.6Subscriber competition with T-Series (2018–2019) *** 2.2.7''Minecraft'' series and renewed focus on gaming (2019–present) * 3Public image and influence ** 3.1Channel demographics and fan base ** 3.2Media reception and analysis ** 3.3Influence on video games ** 3.4Income ** 3.5Relationships with brands and sponsors ** 3.6Appearances in other media * 4Philanthropy * 5Other ventures * 6Personal life * 7Filmography * 8Gameography * 9Discography * 10Awards * 11Publications * 12See also * 13Notes * 14References * 15Further reading * 16External links Early life and education Kjellberg studied at Chalmers University of Technology Kjellberg was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden.7 He was born to Lotta Kristine Johanna (née Hellstrand, born 7 May 1958) and Ulf Christian Kjellberg (born 8 January 1957), and grew up with his older sister Fanny.8 His mother, a former CIO, was named the 2010 CIO of the Year in Sweden.8 His father is also a corporate executive.9 During his childhood, Kjellberg was interested in art, and has detailed that he would draw popular video game characters such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as play video games on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System.1011 During high school, he would skip classes to play video games at an Internet café with friends.11 He then went on to pursue a degree in industrial economics and technology management at Chalmers University of Technology, but left the university in 2011.126 While his reason for leaving Chalmers has often been reported as a want to focus on his YouTube career,12 in 2017, Kjellberg clarified that he left because of his lack of interest in his course, and perceived the idea of leaving university to pursue a YouTube career as "fucking stupid".13 Kjellberg has also shared his enjoyment of Adobe Photoshop, wanting to work on photo manipulation art using the program rather than be in school.13 Following this passion, he entered Photoshop contests and almost earned an apprenticeship at a prominent Scandivanian advertising agency.13 He was also interested in creating content on YouTube, and after not earning the apprenticeship, he sold limited edition prints of his photoshopped images in order to purchase a computer to work on YouTube videos.13 Internet career YouTube content format Early in his career, Kjellberg's content mainly consisted of videos under the Let's Play umbrella.14 His commentaries of horror games made up his best known content during this early stage, although he eventually expanded out of this niche while having his channel maintain a mostly gaming identity.15 Unlike conventional walkthroughs, Kjellberg devoted his Let's Play videos to "sharing gaming moments on YouTube with my fam."16 Variety details that "PewDiePie acts like he's spending time with a friend. He begins each video introducing himself in a high-pitched, goofy voice, drawing out the vowels of his YouTube moniker, then delves into the videos."14 ESPN noted that Kjellberg typically performed a "Brofist" gesture at the end of his videos.17 Kjellberg often referred to his fan base as the "Bro Army" and addresses his audience as "bros".18 Later on during his YouTube career, Kjellberg stopped referring to his fan base as the "Bro Army", and began frequently using the terms "Squad Fam", and later "9 year olds", in his videos.1920 As his channel grew, he began to branch out in terms of his video content, uploading vlogs, in addition to live-action and animated comedy shorts.11 Kjellberg has also uploaded music onto his channel, often accompanied by an animation or fan art. Regarding his music videos, Kjellberg has collaborated with The Gregory Brothers (also known as Schmoyoho), Roomie, and Party in Backyard.212223 Production and output During the early portion of his YouTube career, Kjellberg refused to hire any editor or outside assistance to help with his video output; stating, "I want YouTube to be YouTube."24 In October 2014, Swedish magazine Icon detailed that "he has no manager, no assistant, or friend to help out with work-related contacts."25 That month however, while speaking to Rhett and Link on their Ear Biscuits podcast, Kjellberg expressed that he would seek an editor in 2015.26 In 2016, Kjellberg thanked two other content creators for "helping him out with videos".27 In February 2017, Kjellberg stated in his My Response video, "I'm just a guy. It's literally just me. There's not a producer out there ... there's no writer, there's no camera guy."28 The following month, Kjellberg expressed he was looking for a U.K.-based production assistant.27 In July, Kjellberg commented that a couple months prior, he had an office and a limited number of employees to assist with his content creation.29 Fellow YouTuber Brad Smith, known for his work on the World of Orange channel,30 was noted to have been an editor on Kjellberg's videos for nearly five years; Smith moved on to his own projects away from the channel in July 2019.31 Kjellberg has been noted by both himself and media outlets to put out videos with a high frequency, a practice he first scaled down in 2014.24 By early 2017, he had uploaded almost 3,500 videos to his channel, around 400 of which have been made private.32 Kjellberg has been frequently cited for making videos and statements expressing his feelings of burnout from frequently creating content for the platform, and its effect on his mental health.3334 In March 2017, Kjellberg commented that his channel was running on a daily output, stating, "there's a lot of challenges in doing daily content, ... but I still really, really love the daily challenge—the daily grind—of just being like, 'hey, I'm gonna make a video today, no matter what.' And sometimes it really works, and sometimes it doesn't."35 On the technical aspect of his videos, Kjellberg spoke about how his early videos would feature raw footage, although he later began to dedicate time to edit his videos.36 Icon noted that he uses Adobe Premiere Pro to edit his videos.25 Style The nature of Kjellberg's video content has been described by various outlets as goofy, energetic, obnoxious and filled with profanity.37383940 However, many of the same outlets concede that Kjellberg's content is genuine and unfiltered.3740 Chris Reed of The Wall St. Cheat Sheet said it contained "off-the-cuff running commentary that's characterised by goofy jokes, profanity and loud outbursts."40 Walker wrote Kjellberg's "chosen mode of sharing his critique happens to be ribald entertainment, an unmediated stream of blurted jokes, startled yelps, goofy voices, politically incorrect comments and pretty much nonstop profanity."37 Reed adds that these aspects of Kjellberg's videos are what critics find most abrasive, but what fans love the most.40 Kjellberg resorts occasionally to gameplay, resulting in silent or emotional commentary;3740 his playthrough of The Last of Us, it was detailed, left the usually vocal gamer speechless at the ending.4041 In 2016, he examined his older videos and while noting the stylistic changes he had undergone, he expressed specific regret for his casual use of words like gay or retarded in a derogatory sense.42 In December 2016, Kotaku's Patricia Hernandez wrote about his stylistic changes, explaining that "over the last year, the PewDiePie channel has also had an underlying friction, as Kjellberg slowly distances himself from many of the things that made him famous. He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia," and adding, "the PewDiePie of 2016 can still be immature, sure, but ... a defining aspect of recent PewDiePie videos is existential angst, as he describes the bleak reality of making content for a machine he cannot fully control or understand."43 In August 2017, Kjellberg called himself "just a guy making jokes on the Internet."44 In September, Justin Charity of The Ringer stated, "PewDiePie isn't a comedian in any conventional sense," but described his "hosting style as loopy and irreverent in the extreme: He's a little bit stand-up, a little bit shock jock, a little bit 4chan bottom-feeder."44 History Early years (2006–2012) Kjellberg originally registered a YouTube account under the name "Pewdie" in 2006; he explained that "pew" represents the sound of lasers and "die" refers to death.101745 After forgetting the password to this account, he registered the "PewDiePie" YouTube channel on 29 April 2010.17 After he dropped out of Chalmers, his parents refused to support him,17 and as a result, he funded his early videos by selling prints of his Photoshop art, as well as working at a hot dog stand.1346 Kjellberg stated that the ability to make videos was more important to him than working in a prestigious career.46 Five years later, Kjellberg recalled, "I knew people were big at other types of videos, but there was no one big in gaming, and I didn't know you could make money out of it. It was never like a career that I could just quit college to pursue. It was just something I loved to do."46 In his early years as a YouTube creator, Kjellberg focused on video game commentaries, most notably of horror and action video games.474849 Some of his earliest videos featured commentaries of mainstream video games including Minecraft and Call of Duty, although he was particularly noted for his Let's Plays of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and its related mods.1550 Starting on 2 September 2011, Kjellberg also began posting weekly vlogs under the title of Fridays with PewDiePie.11 By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers.17 On 9 May 2012, Kjellberg's channel reached 500,000 subscribers.51 Around the time his channel earned 700,000 subscribers, Kjellberg spoke at Nonick Conference 2012.5253 In July 2012, the channel reached 1 million subscribers,7 and it reached 2 million subscribers in September.47 In October, OpenSlate ranked Kjellberg's channel as the No. 1 YouTube channel.54 That December, Kjellberg signed with Maker Studios, a multi-channel network (MCN) that drives the growth of the channels under it.17 Prior to his partnership with Maker, he was signed to Machinima, which operates as a rival to Maker.55 Kjellberg expressed feeling neglected by Machinima, and frustrated with their treatment, Kjellberg hired a lawyer to free him from his contract with the network.55 Early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg used rape jokes in his videos.38 A satirical video mocking Kjellberg's content highlighted his usage of such jokes.56 Shortly after, Kjellberg attracted criticism and controversy for the jokes, and in October 2012, he addressed the issue through a Tumblr post, writing, "I just wanted to make clear that I'm no longer making rape jokes, as I mentioned before I'm not looking to hurt anyone and I apologise if it ever did."57 The Globe and Mail stated "unlike many young gamers, he listened when fans and critics alike pointed out their harmful nature, and resolved to stop making rape jokes."38 Becoming the most-subscribed user (2013) On 18 February 2013, the PewDiePie channel reached 5 million subscribers,17 and in April, Kjellberg was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers.58 In May, at the inaugural Starcount Social Stars Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg won the award for "Swedish Social Star".59 Competing against Jenna Marbles, Smosh and Toby Turner,60 Kjellberg also won the award for "Most Popular Social Show".61 In July 2013, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second most-subscribed YouTube user,62 and reached 10 million subscribers on 9 July 2013.1763 In August, Kjellberg signed with Maker's gaming sub-network, Polaris.64 Polaris functioned as a relaunching of The Game Station, Maker's gaming network.65 Kjellberg's subscriber count surpassed that of the leading channel, Smosh, on 15 August 2013.66 Kjellberg received a certificate from Guinness World Records for becoming the most subscribed YouTuber.67 On 1 November, Kjellberg's channel became the first to reach 15 million subscribers;68 the following day, the channel was surpassed by YouTube's Spotlight account at the top of the site's subscriber rankings.69 In the same month, Kjellberg proclaimed his dislike of YouTube's new comment system and disabled the comment section on all of his videos.70 On 22 December 2013, Kjellberg overtook the YouTube Spotlight channel to once again become the most-subscribed on YouTube.7172 Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained.73 In 2013, the PewDiePie channel went from 3.5 million to just under 19 million subscribers,74 and by the end of 2013, it was gaining a new subscriber every 1.037 seconds.75 Billboard reported that the PewDiePie channel gained more subscribers than any other channel in 2013.76 Additionally, in the second half of 2013, the PewDiePie channel earned just under 1.3 billion video views.77 Continued growth (2014–2015) In 2014, Kjellberg’s commentaries, originally best known for featuring horror video games, began to feature games that interested him, regardless of genre.15 In March, Kjellberg updated his video production output, announcing he would be scaling down the frequency of uploads.24 In August 2014, Maker Studios released an official PewDiePie app for the iPhone, allowing audiences to view his videos, create custom favourite video feeds and share videos with others.78 Later in the month, Kjellberg uploaded a video, announcing he would permanently disable comments on his YouTube videos.79 On his decision, Kjellberg stated "I go to the comments and it's mainly spam, it's people self advertising, it's people trying to provoke... just all this stuff that to me, it doesn't mean anything. I don't care about it, I don't want to see it."80 After disabling comments, Kjellberg continued interacting with his audience through Twitter and Reddit.81 On 13 October, Kjellberg decided to allow comments on his videos once more, albeit only after approval.82 However, Kjellberg expressed that he set toggled his comment settings this way so he can redirect people to instead comment on the forums of his Broarmy.net website.83 Kjellberg claimed in a later video that disabling comments helped him become happier.84 In the same year, Kjellberg began streaming videos of his co-hosted series, BroKen, onto MLG.tv.85 Kjellberg co-hosted the series with Kenneth Morrison, better known as CinnamonToastKen, who is also a video game commentator.86 In October 2014, Kjellberg began hinting at the possibility that he might not renew his contract with Maker Studios upon its expiration in December 2014.87 Reports that covered this information also added that Kjellberg expressed his frustrations with the studio's parent company, Disney.55 Kjellberg mulled the option of launching his own network, rather than resign with Maker, although he has declined to provide in-depth details on the subject.2588 However, in light of news outlets reporting his disinterest with Maker, Kjellberg tweeted, "I feel like I was misquoted in the WSJ and I'm really happy with the work that Maker has been doing for me."89 Kjellberg would ultimately continue creating videos under Maker. His relationship with Maker developed into the network establishing an official PewDiePie website, app, and online store to sell merchandise, while Kjellberg promoted Maker's media interests and gave the network a share of his YouTube ad revenue.11 In 2014 alone, Kjellberg's account amassed nearly 14 million new subscribers and over 4.1 billion video views; both figures were higher than any other user.9091 According to Social Blade, a website which tracks YouTube channel statistics, on 29 December 2014, Kjellberg's channel surpassed emimusic's video view count, at over 7.2 billion views, to become the most-viewed channel on the website.9293 During July 2015, Kjellberg's videos were documented to receive over 300 million views per month.94 On 6 September, Kjellberg's YouTube account became the first to eclipse 10 billion video views.995 YouTube Red, Revelmode, and style change (2015–2017) During September 2015, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for the show's shooting.96 Although not many details were revealed at the time, it was later announced that the series would be a YouTube Original titled Scare PewDiePie.97 The series premiered the following February.98 In January 2016, he announced a partnership with Maker Studios to produce Revelmode, a sub-network of Maker, that would showcase Kjellberg and his friends on YouTube in original series.99 After the deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix."99 Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia, Dodger, Emma Blackery, Jacksepticeye, Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier.99 Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch.100101 Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent.36 While producing fewer Let's Play videos about horror games, his style of humor also changed; he has commented that his shift to drier humour was not understood by younger viewers.43 On 2 December, he uploaded a video in which he discussed his frustration with the issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views.102 Kjellberg expressed, "I find that a lot of people that work with YouTube, almost anyone, have no idea what it's like to work as a content creator, as someone who's built this for years and really cared about it."43 On this issue, a Google representative provided a comment to Ars Technica, stating "Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers. We've done an extensive review and found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creator's channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers".103 On 8 December, Kjellberg's channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so.104 On 18 December 2016, he received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for hitting 50 million subscribers.3 In February the next year, his channel's total video view count was surpassed by Indian record label T-Series at the top of YouTube's view rankings, according to Social Blade.105106 Media controversies, streaming, and formatted shows (2017−2018) In January 2017, Kjellberg uploaded a video which appeared to show him using a racial slur.107 The video garnered criticism and widespread attention on Twitter.108 In another video, Kjellberg featured paid two individuals on Fiverr to hold a threatening sign targeted at Jews.107109 The video received negative attention and caused a media backlash. The Wall Street Journal alleged that this was not the first time Kjellberg had used anti-Semitic language and imagery in his videos.110 Kjellberg and the two individuals later apologised,107 but the event led Maker Studios to cut their ties with Kjellberg and Google to drop him from the Google Preferred advertising program and cancel the second season of the Scare PewDiePie YouTube Red series.111112 In April, while still continuing to upload new content onto YouTube, Kjellberg created Netglow, a crowdsourced channel on the livestreaming service Twitch.30 On Netglow, he started streaming Best Club, a weekly live stream show.30 Best Club premiered on 9 April, with its first episode featuring Brad Smith alongside Kjellberg.30 Kjellberg commented that his decision to create Netglow was in the works prior to the aforementioned allegations of anti-Semitic themes in his videos.30 Business Insider detailed that Kjellberg's first stream amassed around 60,000 viewers, and that Netglow had accumulated 93,000 subscribers to that point.113 In September 2017, Kjellberg drew criticism again when he used the racial slur "nigger" during an outburst at another player while live-streaming PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.114 As a response to the incident, Campo Santo co-founder Sean Vanaman referred to Kjellberg as "worse than a closeted racist", announced that Campo Santo would file copyright strikes against Kjellberg's videos featuring the studio's game Firewatch, and encouraged other game developers to do the same.115116 Kjellberg later uploaded a short video apologising for the language he used during the live-stream, expressing "I'm disappointed in myself because it seems like I've learned nothing from all these past controversies, the slur was not okay. I'm really sorry if I offended, hurt or disappointed anyone with all of this. Being in the position that I am, I should know better."117 In 2018, Paul MacInnes of The Guardian wrote about Kjellberg's YouTube content; he noted that each week Kjellberg posted videos featuring one of three series formats, comparing this uploading pattern to television programming.118 The three series listed were You Laugh You Lose, which features Kjellberg watching "a stream of supposedly humorous, or perhaps laughable clips" while trying to not laugh; Last Week I Asked You, having begun as a parody and homage to Jack Douglass' Yesterday I Asked You, he challenges his audience and reviews the output; and Meme Review, in which he reviews popular Internet memes.118 Furthermore, Kjellberg then began a book club-styled series.118 Kjellberg's own enjoyment with the Book Club series was also noted.118 Kjellberg also began Pew News, a satirical series that has Kjellberg present and discuss recent news stories while in character, often as his own fictional characters that are mostly the ones named after CNN hosts, such as Gloria Borger, Poppy Harlow, or Mary Katharine Ham and sometimes, an amalgamation of these names.119 Pew News parodies both mainstream news channels, such as CNN, and YouTube news channels, such as DramaAlert.119 In late 2019 he now rarely uploads Pew News due to criticism about his opinions on stories from his fans and said that 'the internet is now crazy'.[citation needed] In May, Kjellberg attracted controversy for using the term "Twitch thots" in one of his videos, a term directed at Alinity, a broadcaster on Twitch.120 Alinity responded by making a copyright claim against his video which was later removed by CollabDRM.120 Alinity stated that her reaction was caused by “the rampant sexism in online communities", arguing that Kjellberg’s comments degraded women.121 Alinity refused to accept Kjellberg's apology.122 In July, Kjellberg posted a meme with singer Demi Lovato's face; the meme jokingly referenced Lovato's struggles with addiction. The meme was posted around the same time Lovato was hospitalized after suffering an opioid overdose. As a result, he received criticism from online users, including fans of Lovato and others struggling with addiction.123 Kjellberg later apologised for the incident.123 In a video uploaded in early December, Kjellberg gave a shoutout to several small content creators on YouTube, recommending his viewers to subscribe to them. Among those creators was "E;R", who Kjellberg highlighted for a video essay on Netflix's Death Note.124 Shortly thereafter, The Verge's Julia Alexander noted that the video in question used imagery of the Charlottesville car attack, and that the channel made frequent use of racial and homophobic slurs.124 Kjellberg addressed the issue, stating he was largely unaware of E;R's content contained outside of the Death Note video essay, and revoked his recommendation of E;R.124